


Hillary versus the Free Range Party

by 20SomethingSuperHeroes



Series: Bucky in Arizona [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fights, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Interrogation, SHIELD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 13:10:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20SomethingSuperHeroes/pseuds/20SomethingSuperHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hillary Tanner makes an unexpected trip home to Mesa, Arizona in company with her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mitch Sorensen.  The assignment seems harmless enough: interrogate a man convicted of breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s local office on behalf of a right-wing extremist group, the Arizona Free Range Party.  But when Mitch is attacked in his hotel room, it's up to Hillary to save the day--and she knows just who to call for help.</p>
<p>Setting: Two and a half months before the events of "The Avengers: Age of Ultron"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hillary versus the Free Range Party

The search for DeWitt’s colleagues in Chicago hit a dead end within a week. So first thing after their breakfast in the hotel several days later, Coulson announced to Mitch and Hillary that he was sending them to Arizona.

“But why aren’t you coming with us?” Mitch demanded.

“I am needed back in D.C.,” said Coulson. “The Avengers brought back a few prisoners on their last mission and have asked me to supervise the interrogations. But you,” he said, looking at Hillary, “are already in with our office in Tempe, and you, Mitch,” he looked at Mitch and gave him an encouraging smile, “are more adept at making deals and negotiating than either of us. That might come in handy.”

“What’s the occasion?” asked Hillary.

“Well, Hillary,” said Coulson, “if you remember the break-in at the S.H.I.E.L.D. office in Tempe at the end of last summer, it seems that we have discovered who is behind it.”

Hillary sat up straighter. “Really, who?”

“A far-right group known as the Free Range Party,” said Coulson. He dropped a manilla folder onto the table. “Check this out. I got this emailed to me last night. They have been around for the last six years but only recently have formally banded into a group. They have chapters in every state as well as a national committee. It started out as a bunch of lobbyists and activists from different right wing groups that represent industrial, business, and mining interests. Their official function is to petition state and national governments to allow development in restricted natural areas and around important water sources, and to maximize industrialization and big business. One of the memos states that they are so anxious for change in the government that they are willing to use unlawful means to do so. Include break into government offices.”

“And the facilities of security agencies to boot,” said Hillary. 

“So they’re crazy,” said Mitch.

“Well...I guess if you’re willing to go that far to do what you want, you’ve got to be crazy in a measure,” Coulson mused. “But desperate, I think, would be a better word.” 

“Hmm,” said Hillary. “So do we know what they were after when they broke into Tempe?”

“Agent Parsons says that the Arizona Free Range Party sent their man Michael Lemicks to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. computers for classified information. Lemicks did manage to upload several files onto his flash drive before you and your co-agents apprehended him. Most of them were partially-decoded files about recent Hydra activity.”

“Wait, this is an industrial development group that wants info about Hydra?” asked Mitch.

“That’s where it gets interesting,” said Coulson. “I have a transcript of Lemicks’ confession in this file, so you can read it on the plane. Lemicks said that Hydra wanted to know what S.H.I.E.L.D. knew about them and where it would attack them. In exchange, Hydra would have some information for the Arizona Free Range Party. Apparently, after the fall of the Triskelion last spring, some HYDRA sleepers stole valuable S.H.I.E.L.D. files and have restricted their access to Hydra users only.”

“So what in that could be so valuable to the Free Range Party?” asked Hillary.

“Information about uranium deposits near the Grand Canyon,” said Coulson. “S.H.I.E.L.D. had those mapped out to a T so we could protect them. But now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer the biggest bully on the intel playground -- “

“The Free Range Party is making their move to grab it,” said Hillary.

“Well, that’s what Hydra wants the Free Range Party to know, but not us--but you said we don’t have those files anymore?” asked Mitch.

“That is correct,” Coulson clarified. “And we’re not about to go after them.”

“So they already sent you the guy’s confession,” said Hillary. “Now what?”

“Well, the Free Range Party wasn’t too happy that one of their guys confessed,” said Coulson. “They have been having open negotiations with state and federal officers as well as  
S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Lemicks released, but with a confession he won’t be able to get a favorable plea bargain. So now they’re going to circumvent the courts, bust him out of prison by whatever means possible. The state government has moved Lemicks to a secure location.”

“But if Lemicks confessed, does he still want his friends to get him out of prison?” asked Mitch.

“No, you’re missing the point,” said Coulson, “he confessed so he could get an advantage, but he never intended to shift his loyalties--at least, that’s what Parsons’ report here  
says. He seems interested in casting the blame for the break-in on Hydra, but that isn’t getting him anywhere. But I’m flying you both down to Phoenix tonight. Agent Kearns and Parsons will be there to meet you. I need you two to talk to Lemicks. Tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to let him out on bail--yes, you heard me right,” he answered to their astonished looks. “Unfortunately the FRP does not have that kind of legal clout at the moment. But we need him out of there before they call on help from someone who might.  
And you don’t tell him what we’re offering him unless he gives us information.”

“About what?” asked Hillary.

“Hydra.” Coulson gave her a steely glare. 

“Well, let’s get going,” said Hillary.

They went back up to their rooms to pack. When they were nearly ready to head to the airport, Coulson talked to them in the hallway.

“Now, just to be clear, I went ahead and booked a hotel room for you, Mitch, in Tempe. Hillary, you can go ahead and stay with your family. I’ll call you guys tonight when I’m in D.C.” 

“How long is this going to take?”

“You’ll only have today to interview Lemicks.” 

Hillary sent a text to her dad:

Hillary: Hey, Coulson has an assignment for me and my partner down in Phoenix. I will probably be there for one night. They will drop me off at our house later tonight.  
Trey: That’s wonderful, dear. I will make sure and give our dear friend a heads up to lie low. Your mother should be home tonight, so you can call or text when you’re getting close.  
Hillary: got it. 

While they were on their way to the airport, Hillary got a text from her dad’s number. 

Bucky: Hey, it’s me. What are you coming down for all of a sudden? You miss me or something?  
Hillary: More like I have the urge to go down and check that you aren’t causing too much trouble ;)  
Bucky: LOL have a nice flight. You should swing by the garage to say hello.  
Hillary: if I get the chance.

An agent from the office in Chicago dropped them off at the airport, and Coulson left them to catch his flight to D.C. Hillary and Mitch went down to their gate and waited about half an hour for their flight to Phoenix. On the plane, they took turns passing the pages of the briefing back and forth so they could read up.

Agent Parsons, accompanied by Agent Kearns, picked them up at Sky Harbor Airport. They locked their suitcases and coats in the back trunk and got into the back seat.

Parsons corroborated Coulson’s report that Lemicks had confessed to get leverage. 

“I doubt he felt like he had anything to lose in confessing,” said Parsons.

“I think he mostly felt like Hydra wasn’t powerful enough to retaliate if they found out,” said Kearns.

“But would his information about Hydra be of any value, if that’s the case?” said Hillary.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” said Kearns.

Mitch was looking out of the window as they drove down the freeway to downtown Phoenix.

“You ever been to Arizona before?”

“It’s been a while,” said Mitch. “I don’t have any family or friends down here. I came once when I was in junior high to visit some cousins, but they’ve since moved.”

“Is it a little hot for your taste, then?” asked Hillary.

Mitch sniffed. “Maybe.”

“Well, you’re lucky you came in February.”

They drove into Phoenix. It was the end of the lunch rush hour, and they had to take it slow as they approached the state administrative buildings. They pulled up to the State and Federal Justice Administration building and parked.

Inside, they were met by a tall, beefy man named Xavier.

“I am the officer in charge of Lemick’s security,” he said as he shook hands all around. He took them into a side room. 

“Is Lemicks here today?” asked Mitch.

“Yes, he is,” said Xavier. “He’s just in the secure interrogation room a couple of doors down.”

“Where do you normally keep him?” asked Hillary.

“In Sierra Vista. Lemicks is a nice enough guy, educated, passionate. It’s too bad a guy like him got mixed up with the Free Range Party.”

“What can you tell us about the FRP?” asked Parsons. 

“Well, for starters, they haven’t been up to much illegal activity recently. Their lobby has been pushing for meetings with lawmakers to get certain things passed or not passed--they’re making a lot of fuss about a bill declaring a creek up on the Rim a natural forest, but considering the political climate in the state legislature their agenda isn’t making much progress.”

“More like the state reps don’t want to be seen sympathizing with an extremist group,” said Kearns.

Xavier shrugged. “Anyway, since their man got caught they’re not very interested in doing anything else illegal.”

“How has their campaign to release him been going?” asked Hillary.

“So far, thankfully, their petitions are being ignored. They haven’t issued any threats, either.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Hillary. “Now, we believe that Lemicks and the FRP broke into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s office last August to steal information on behalf of a secret organization known as Hydra. Have you heard of them?”

“If you’re referring to the organization that got outed by Captain America last year, then yes,” said Xavier. “But I wasn’t aware that they had any activity down here in Arizona.”  
“Well, up until last April,” Parsons began, “Hydra mainly got its people and resources from S.H.I.E.L.D.. But since then, our evidence has led us to believe they have been using other organizations as allies--including the Free Range Party.”

Xavier clenched his eyebrows together. “You don’t say. Do you mean that the Free Range Party is being run by Hydra the way S.H.I.E.L.D. was?”

“Actually, we think that Hydra is running itself now,” said Mitch. “Since we’ve been forcing their people out into the open, they’ve been banding together secretly. They have enough stolen money, computer data, and other means to function, but when there’s something they need that they can’t get themselves, then they ask for help.”

“As belligerent on its own as the FRP is,” Parsons said, “the last thing any of us want is Hydra aiding and abetting them.”

“You’re quite right,” said Xavier. “Thank you for telling me this.” 

Hillary also told Xavier briefly of their plan to offer Lemicks release on bail if he told them about Hydra. 

“I suppose I won’t keep your interrogation waiting. If you will follow me.” He stood up, and he let the S.H.I.E.L.D. team out of the room.

“We’re taking the prisoner back to Sierra Vista at six tonight,” said Xavier as he led them down the hall. 

“It’s almost two,” said Hillary, checking her phone. “That doesn’t give us much time.” 

“Four hours. We can make it work,” said Mitch.

“We’d better,” said Parsons. “You have no idea how difficult it is to schedule interviews with some people. Kearns, you wait outside.”

Kearns stationed himself outside of the one-way window to observe the interrogation while Parsons, Xavier, Mitch and Hillary went inside. 

Xavier dismissed the police officer who had been waiting with the prisoner. Lemicks stood politely to greet them. Hillary guessed he was trying to make a good impression in spite of the fact that they were there to interrogate him. She remembered him from the break-in, but it seemed that prison life was wearing him down a little. He was a thin man with saggy skin, especially around the cheeks and eyes, and his brown hair that was somewhat unkempt and graying. If he had been wearing a suit and tie instead of a prison jumpsuit he probably would have been nicer-looking. He had a wide mouth and very white teeth, which made for a pleasant smile.

“Thank you for meeting with us, Mr. Lemicks,” Hillary said as she sat down across the table from him. The others stood behind her.

“Well, I suppose the pleasure is mine, considering it wasn’t my choice to meet with you at all,” said Lemicks casually. “But, you know, anything to get me out of the cell.” 

“Yes, and as a matter of fact, I do have a few questions for you, about the day you broke into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Tempe office, and if you cooperate,” Hillary paused for effect,  
“S.H.I.E.L.D. is planning to arrange for you to be released on bail.”

Lemicks laughed. “Release me on bail? I break into your building and you want to get me out of jail? I guess last April didn’t teach you anything. Still the screwed, corrupt  
organization you’ve always been.”

He looked at his hands and chuckled quietly to himself.

“You’re quite wrong about that,” said Hillary calmly. “We still use the same tactics, but we’ve got a different agenda now. But would you be interested in considering our offer?”

“I’d like to,” said Lemicks, “but it depends on the questions.” 

“What if I was going to ask you what you know about Hydra--which I am?”

“You’re in the wrong department, sister,” said Lemicks. “I don’t know squat about Hydra.”

“Oh really?” Parsons spoke up from the back. He walked forward to the table. “I find that hard to believe. When we arrested you last August, your little flash drive had files of partially decoded information about Hydra’s recent activity.”

“Well you didn’t give me the chance to read it,” said Lemicks.

“You wanted to take that information back to Hydra to tell them what we knew about them,” said Mitch. “Have they been in touch with you, since you went to jail, Mr. Lemicks?”

“I should think not,” said Lemicks. “They’re not my friends. The Free Range Party is who I’m loyal to. That’s who I’m working for.”

“But Hydra hired you to spy on S.H.I.E.L.D.,” said Hillary. “Now, did you ever meet with Hydra’s representatives in person?”

Lemicks sniffed. “No. The heads of the state chapter always give out the assignments. I never deal with the outside clients.”

“Then who at the head of the State Chapter does all the talking to Hydra?” asked Parsons.

“It’s none of my business,” said Lemicks. 

“We need to know. Lemicks, you almost killed one of my agents.”

“I broke her leg.”

“She fell from a second-floor window while trying to apprehend you. Do you think that’s funny?”

“So it could’ve been worse. Big deal.”

“Hydra wants to hurt the people in my office,” said Parsons. “They want to hurt lots of innocent people and control the lives of everyone else.”

“I thought your star-spangled mascot pushed them back on their deadline?”

Hillary gripped the edge of the table.

“They’ll do anything to get back to where they were,” Parsons retorted. “And they will work with the likes of you to get what they want. But I think everyone in here is curious as to how and why a society with such good intentions as the Free Range Party ever got on speaking terms with Hydra.”

“Now you’re flattering me,” said Lemicks. “It’s not gonna work.” 

“Lemicks, calm down,” said Mitch. “Parsons, I’ll handle this. All we need is a few details. We have some idea of how the FRP is helping Hydra, and how they’re helping you. But  
we need the nitty-gritty stuff. All we need are a few names. People we can talk to that you know, who can help us out. Your friends in the FRP might not even get in trouble for this, if they can tell us who’s pulling the strings in Hydra. We don’t oppose your ideology--I personally agree with some of the FRP’s platforms. But I think they could do better than work with Hydra.”

“I’m not the one who’s calling the shots about who gets to work with who,” said Lemicks, “or why it’s a good reason to do any of that.”

“You’re giving us vague hints, Mr. Lemicks,” said Hillary. “But we need the full truth from you.”

“I can tell you that I don’t know anything,” said Lemicks, leaning forward in his chair and softening his smile. “Any information that I do have would be out of date.”

“Well, tell us what you did know, and we’ll go from there,” Hillary told him. “You might know something that we don’t.”

“Yeah, right,” Lemicks snorted. “Me, a state-level lobbyist with a hobby of breaking into buildings for people who like cows and guns. Me, know more than S.H.I.E.L.D.? Since when has that ever been the case with a guy like me?” 

“You care enough about what you believe in to do something you know isn’t right,” said Mitch. “How about doing something you know IS right? How about helping us out?” He paused for a moment to let Lemicks absorb the statement. “And you know, Hydra might not even care about your causes, in spite of anything they may have promised you. They might not care about you as a person. They might hurt you someday, regardless of whatever help you can give us. Hydra isn’t on anyone’s side except its own.”

Parsons, Mitch, and Hillary watched Lemicks. Lemicks sat with his eyes on his lap and twiddled his fingers.

“You know what,” said Parsons, “I think we can give you a break. How about you take a few minutes to think this over?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” said Lemicks.

The interrogators left the room for a ten-minute break. Hillary didn’t realize how exhausted she was until then. So she let Mitch and Parsons go back in with Xavier and Lemicks.  
She watched with Kearns, making small talk while Parsons and Mitch repeated a lot of their arguments from earlier.

“Yeah, working with Coulson is going great,” Hillary said to Kearns. “We do this sort of thing all the time. And Lemicks really doesn’t scare us, after some of the people we’ve met.”

Lemicks continued to sidestep and rebutt their arguments as the interrogation went on. Hillary went in for their third session and tried making suggestions to Lemicks about what he could possibly be hiding.

“Did Hydra promise to protect your family if you worked for them?”

“Do you think I’d trust them to?”

“Did they make similar promises of protection to anyone else?”

“I wouldn’t know. Isn’t that sort of thing private?”

“When you broke into the S.H.I.E.L.D. office in August, were you asked to look up information about persons S.H.I.E.L.D. is watching?”

“I just copied and downloaded as many files as I could,” said Lemicks. “Do you think I had time to nitpick for their requests?”

“Does Hydra have a specific place for meeting with the Arizona Free Range Party?”

“I don’t know,” said Lemicks. “They’d never invite me. Between you and me, Hydra is a club for snobs.”

“Is that the most you’re going to tell us?” 

“It might be, it might not be.” 

They called another break right after that. It was four-thirty.

“No more breaks after this,” Mitch said. “Either we get this done or we’re toast.” 

And feeling like Lemicks absolutely had to crack after this, Hillary reentered the room at the end of the break. But Lemicks said less to them in that final session than he had in all of the others put together. At a quarter to six, Xavier said they could leave.

“Tell me, just how much trouble would it be for us to set up an appointment with him and the lie detector?” asked Parsons.

“I’m afraid the lie detector’s booked for the next six months,” said Xavier. “And you’d have to get a court order first anyway.” 

“Excuse me, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.,” said Hillary. “I thought we could get a lie detector whenever we want?”

“Only when you’re with Coulson,” Parsons sighed. “Let’s go ahead and get an appointment for that court order anyway. At the rate things are going. Arrgh, I need a tall coffee.” 

“I need a diet coke,” said Hillary.

“I need a sandwich,” said Mitch.

“We’ll stop somewhere on the way to your hotel,” said Parsons. They said goodbye to Xavier and got in the car with Kearns. 

 

They stopped at Circle K to get whatever drinks and munchies they needed.

“You sure you don’t want to come over to my house?” said Hillary when they were on their way again. “My mom could feed you.” She was concerned that the sandwich he had chosen was too small.

“Nah,” said Mitch. “There’ll be somewhere close by to eat, maybe.”

“This hotel you’re going to has got a small shopping center close by with a few stores and restaurants,” said Parsons.

“But just be careful if you’re going around on your own,” Kearns added

“I’ll be fine,” said Mitch.

Mitch’s hotel was a Hilton Inn and Suites on the south side of Tempe. Hillary and Kearns took Mitch’s bags to the front and got him a trolley.

“Well, we’ll see you tomorrow,” said Kearns.

“Coulson will be calling us in a little while,” said Hillary. “Get you some rest.”

“I will,” said Mitch. He saw Hillary awkwardly reaching her hand to shake, but he thought better of it and hugged her instead. “Enjoy staying with your folks.” 

“Stay out of trouble,” Hillary called back to him as she went back to the car with Kearns.

Hillary’s house was a fifteen-minute drive from the hotel in Tempe, and she texted her mother to say she was on her way. Parsons helped Hillary carry her things into the house  
through the kitchen door. Her mother was at home. She had a big hug and a hot plate of leftover lasagna waiting for Hillary, and since she had met Parsons before she made some small talk with him before he left. While Jo cleaned up in the kitchen, Hillary complained about the interrogation between bites of dinner.

“I’m telling you, this guy is a scumbag,” said Hillary. “He totally knows what Hydra is up to, he just refuses to tell us anything.”

“And they took him back to Sierra Vista already?” Jo asked. She was putting some lasagna in a tupperware dish to take to Bucky.

“Yep. They’re on their way there already. I don’t think Coulson’s gonna be happy.” 

“Well, you tried your best,” said Jo.

After Hillary had eaten, she rinsed her plate, and she and her mother got in the car to go to the garage. All of the customers had gone, and Trey and Bucky were in the  
breakroom, talking.

“Hello there. What took you so long?” Bucky said, getting off the couch.

“Ugh, the guy we were interrogating was giving us a hard time. Some people are just born with their mouths clamped shut.” 

“I hear ya,” said Bucky. “Where is this guy? Maybe I can pry his mouth open for you.”

Hillary laughed. “Thanks, but I think we’ve got it covered.”

Hillary hugged her father. “So how is S.H.I.E.L.D. treating you?” he asked.

“As well as can be expected,” said Hillary. “It wasn’t as cold when we were in Chicago, thank goodness. Minneapolis is a solid block of ice.”

Bucky was over by the microwave heating up his lasagna, and he glanced over at Hillary while she spoke. 

“Well, I’m glad we got you that new coat last year at any rate,” said Jo.

“And you said one of your friends came with you?” asked Trey.

“Yeah, Mitch, my parter. He’s a nice guy. I’ve told you about him.” 

“Where is he staying?”

“Super-nice hotel in Tempe.” 

“And why didn’t Coulson come with you?” asked Jo.

“Well, he’s got other things to take care of in D.C. Avengers business, I think.”

Trey nodded. “The Avengers have been in the news, lately. People see them coming and going a lot out of their base in New York. What are they up to?”

“Well, if Steve Rogers has anything to do with it,” Hillary said, with a glance at Bucky, “making sure certain secret combinations aren’t up to any mischief.”

“So I imagine he’s keeping busy,” said Bucky, sticking a fork into his lasagna.

“If by busy you mean too busy to be looking for you, then yes,” said Hillary. “Lucky you.” 

“Well, I guess that wraps things up here for tonight,” Trey said to Bucky. 

“I’ll take care of the chores, like always,” Bucky answered him.

“Thanks again.”

“Have a good night, Bucky,” said Jo.

“You take care of yourself, Bucky,” said Hillary as they walked out of the room. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” said Bucky, giving them a wave.

Hillary rode home with her father, and they talked about S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and odd political matters. Right when she got home, Coulson called her on her cell phone.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” asked Hillary. 

“My bedtime’s pretty late” said Coulson. “I just wanted to check on you. I already talked to Mitch and he filled me in on most of what happened today.”

“Well, I’m doing okay, I’m at home now,” said Hillary.

“Glad to hear that,” said Coulson. “I’m sorry the interrogation didn’t go very well.”

“Well, we’ll just have to try again some other time,” Hillary told him. She gave him a few more details. 

“Yeah, that’s too bad. Some people are real jerks. We’ll have a skype call tomorrow at ten at the Tempe office. Can you make it?”

“Yeah.” 

“Okay then, good night.”

“Night.” 

 

Sure enough, there was an Arby’s right across the parking lot from the hotel. Mitch got himself a chicken sandwich and a milkshake and returned to his hotel room to eat it. He decided he would watch some television while he digested, and as he sat on his bed to figure out the remote, there was a knock in his door.

He got up to open it. The man standing there was rather tall and skinny, with thin brown hair combed flat against his round head, small lips and his sallow skin and prominent cheeks made his head look like a skull. His black suit appeared a few sizes too large for him, and his hands were rather bony. 

“Good evening, Mr. Sorensen,” he said.

“Um, hi,” said Mitch. “Are you one of the hotel staff?”

“May I come in?” the man asked. 

“Uh, sure,” said Mitch, though he had a feeling he should have asked the man to state his business first.

The man walked into the room and Mitch closed the door.

“Now, Mr. Sorensen, I understand that you met my colleague Michael Lemicks today.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” asked Mitch. 

“That is quite right. How is he, by the way?”

“Doing well enough, I guess,” Mitch shrugged. “Hey, if you don’t mind, why don’t we go down to the hotel lobby and--”

“Oh no, Mr. Sorensen,” said the man, “it is urgent that we keep this matter private. I have a few questions for you.”

“All right,” said Mitch.

“Where is Lemicks being kept by the state government?”

“Er…I don’t think I’m supposed to mention that outside of work.”

“Well certainly you know.”

“Look, if you’re here to ask me about stuff that’s classified, I’d suggest you leave, because I’m not telling you anything.”

“Well, if not Lemicks, then we can talk about something else,” said the thin man calmly. “How long have you been working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Um...a few months. Just over two months, officially.”

“So you probably know about the Coburn Creek project?” 

“Wait, what creek?”

“The Coburn Creek project? S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attempt to build a new secret refinery in--”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Mitch cut him off. “Now what did you say your name was?”

“Did S.H.I.E.L.D. tell you about the Coburn Creek project or not?” the man demanded, the pretense of friendliness dropped from his voice.

“No, they didn’t,” said Mitch. He started to back away towards his bed.

“Well, if you will not tell us,” said the man, stepping forward, “perhaps you can help us find out.” The man’s large eyes darted towards Mitch’s laptop case which was sitting on his  
bed. Mitch dived towards it, and the man jumped onto the bed after him. Mitch grabbed on to the laptop case by the handle, but the man managed to grab it as well. They rolled over each other onto the floor, and Mitch bumped his head on landing. The man was surprisingly strong for his lean shape. Mitch lifted up a leg to kick the man, but on impact the man managed to pull away the laptop case. Mitch jumped up off the floor and threw the man a punch to the jaw, and he heard it crack. The man dropped the laptop case, and Mitch picked it up.

There was a loud crack, followed instantly by the sound of shattering glass as the window of his hotel room exploded--perhaps from a bullet. Mitch slung the long strap of his laptop case over his shoulder and ran out to the hall. His first thought was to find the hotel security. But waiting for him around the corner was a tall, husky man with spiked hair wearing a tan suit and ready to bowl him over. Mitch ducked to one side.

“Grab the case!” shouted the skinny man, and the thick man reached for the strap over Mitch’s shoulder. Mitch fell against the yank on the strap, and he buckled his knees and dropped to the floor and rolled. Mitch got up before the big man pounced on him. 

At the end of the hallway there was a utility closet. Mitch thought for sure it could be locked, but by some miraculous chance it was open, and he burst inside. The beefy man was running after him, and Mitch slammed the door and propped a hotel cart against it.

“Come outta there!” the big man shouted as he banged on the door. 

“Nothing doing,” Mitch said under his breath. His hands were shaking. He checked his laptop case. The computer seemed to be all right. Then he checked his pockets. He had his cell phone inside, and it was still intact. But his gun he had left in the bedroom.

Just when he needed it.

“Mr. Sorensen,” the skinny man’s voice came through the door. “There is no need to run and hide from us. We do not wish to hurt you. Come out now, and help us, and we promise that no harm will come to you.”

Mitch started rummaging through the pockets of his briefcase. There had to be some piece of emergency equipment that Coulson had given him stashed in there...sunglasses, no, paperclips...papers...the memos on Lemicks’ confession, oh, they’d better not get a hold of that, Mitch thought. But sticking his fingers into the side pocket, he found a small spray bottle.

“Mr. Sorensen,” said the Skinny man. “We do not wish to be forced to use violence on you. If you would please come out quietly and hand over your laptop, we would appreciate that.”

Pepper Spray, the label read. He would only get one shot.

“Mr. Sorensen, we do not have all evening. Please come out now, or we will break the door down for you.”

Mitch turned the doorknob and pushed the door wide open. The skinny man got hit in the face with the side of the door and yelled. The big guy had been standing right behind him. He got a facefull of pepper spray. He gave a bloodcurdling scream. Mitch darted down the hallway, his finger still on the trigger of the spray bottle. He pressed the elevator button, and the door opened as the skinny man came running up behind him, his face bleeding. There was a third man in there, dressed in a gray suit, bald on the top and his face slightly shaped like an egg. 

“Get the kid!” shouted the skinny man.

The egg-headed man threw back his fist to punch, and halfway to Mitch’s face Mitch stepped onto the elevator and caught it. The skinny man slid into the elevator just as the door was closing and kicked Mitch in the seat. As the elevator went down, Mitch struggled against the both of them. He hit the skinny man’s head against the metal wall of the elevator, and he slumped to the ground. Mitch then pushed the egg-headed man over his friend. The elevator stopped, and Mitch stepped over the two of them and fairly ran into the lobby as the egg-headed man stumbled out.

“Come back here, you!” he shouted. “Clark! He’s coming for you!”

Mitch barely had time to see that the front desk of the lobby had closed before he met another man dressed entirely in black, who was bald with dark, glistening skin and a curly goatee.

“You’re not going anywhere, junior,” said the man who had been addressed as Clark.

Mitch swung his laptop bag and hit Clark with it. Clark did not duck in time, and he recoiled, clutching his hands to his face and moaning. And Mitch made for the front doors.  
There was a black car parked outside with a man in the drivers’ seat. He had the window down, and he shouted at Mitch as he ran past, and Mitch heard the squeal of tires as the engine revved to life.

His first thought was the Arby’s across the parking lot, but it was too far, and he knew that that was where the driver expected him to go anyway. Then he remembered that to one side of the hotel was a grocery store called Trents'. And it was closed for the night. But there would be places to hide behind it. So he took a sharp turn to the right. He saw the car turning out of the corner of his eye. There was a fence between the grocery store and the hotel, but Mitch had to only go a few yards further down to find the dumpster behind the bushes. He landed hard on his feet on the pavement on the other side. He saw the headlights of the black car blazing at him suddenly. He ran to the rear of the building, grateful for not the first time in his life that he had done cross-country in high school. There was a dumpster, and he ducked behind it to catch his breath, but he knew that he could not stay hidden behind it for long. He got up and tried a door beside it. It was unlocked. He opened it just wide enough to admit himself just as he heard footsteps behind him. He saw a large, heavy garbage can beside the door, and he slid it in front and looked around for a place to hide. It was a storage and sorting area, and off to one side he saw a small office area. Certainly that was locked...but there was a closet just behind it. There were cleaning supplies in there. It wouldn’t be too uncomfortable. 

Meanwhile the door he had come through had started shifting open behind the barricade.

On reaching the closet, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it to silent. Then he started to text Hillary. 

Hillary, I’m in trouble. Some guys broke into my hotel room and I think they’re from the FRP. I ran away from the hotel and now I’m hiding at the grocery store next to it. They’re armed and I think they mean business. I left my gun in my suite. Could you come or can you send someone else to get me out of this? Mitch.

Hillary was on her computer, checking Facebook. Then her phone went off. It was a text from Mitch.

She wanted to ask if he was being serious. But she knew that Mitch wouldn’t be joking about something this bad. 

It was past midnight on the east coast and Coulson would be of no help. The people from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tempe office lived in scattered locations across the valley and she wasn’t sure how close they were to Mitch. She called both Parsons and Kearns but got voice mail, so she sent them text message on the off-chance that they were available. And then she called the one person she knew how to find.

Bucky was settling down for a good night’s rest when his tracfone rang. The caller ID said Hillary.

“Hello?” he asked, confused why she would be calling so late.

“Bucky, oh, thank goodness. My friend Mitch from S.H.I.E.L.D. is in trouble. Can you come with me?”

“Wait, what kind of trouble?”

“He’s been attacked in his hotel and now he’s hiding in the back of a grocery store. Please, they’re going to hurt him.”

“Who is?”

“Some right-wing maniacs. They’re armed but he left behind his gun..”

“Um, okay, I guess if it’s that important.”

“I’ll come get you. Thanks, Bucky.” 

“No problem.”

She got her two guns from her work suitcase. Then Hillary knocked on her parents’ bedroom door. No one answered. The lights were off. She opened the door. “Mom? Dad?”

Her mother stirred. Her father sat up. “What is it?”

“My friend Mitch is in trouble. I’m going to help him. And I’m taking Bucky with me.”

“Okay. Be careful.” Her parents seemed too tired to fully grasp what was going on, but Hillary felt better having told them where she was going. She went out to get her car, still  
parked on the street where her father had left it after her last visit. 

She allowed herself to speed a little bit on her way to the garage. The streets were fairly empty and there weren’t any police cars in sight. When she arrived at the garage she  
pulled up to the waiting room door and unlocked it. Bucky was waiting for her inside. 

“Come on. We haven’t got all night,” said Hillary.

He stepped out and Hillary closed the door behind him.

“So where are we going?” Bucky asked as he pulled on his seatbelt.

“Across town to Tempe. Here’s the scoop.” She explained to Bucky about the Free Range Party and the failed interrogation from that afternoon.

“So do these guys just want revenge or what?” asked Bucky.

“I think they want to see what S.H.I.E.L.D. knows about them through Mitch,” said Hillary. “Mitch got out of the hotel as fast as he could. And now he’s in the back of a grocery store hiding.”

“But I guess it’s only a matter of time before they catch up to him.”

“I’m praying really hard right now,” said Hillary as they merged onto a freeway headed south. “Is my phone GPS on?”

Bucky grabbed her phone. “Yeah, it’s on.”

“Okay. I think I know how to get there from S______ Avenue, though.”

She took a couple of breaths. She drove on in silence for a minute. Bucky watched the passing traffic and city around them.

“Bucky,” she said.

“Yes, Hillary.”

“Well, first of all, we don’t need Mitch to know who you really are. If I introduce you, it’s as Jason Retniw, got it?” 

“All right.”

“And don’t let me call you Bucky for any reason. S.H.I.E.L.D. is still looking for you and Mitch knows all about it.” 

“Okay. Well...how about we worry about that after we’ve saved him?”

“Good point. Good point. Also, another thing.” She took another deep breath. “I need to ask you a huge favor.”

“Go ahead.”

“Could you please not kill anyone? I mean...okay, we need to keep these guys alive for questioning, all right, but I don’t need anyone’s blood on my conscience, okay? And not on yours, either. At S.H.I.E.L.D., our rule is to not kill unless we have to, and that’s usually the case if the other person is trying to kill us.”

“Well….”

“I guess now that I think about it it is a little too much to ask.”

“Yeah, it is,” said Bucky. “They never let me take any prisoners.”

“But you don’t need to kill anyone tonight, got it? You’re just here to help me get Mitch out of a tight spot.”

“I got it.” 

“Do I have your word?”

“Yeah, you can have it.”

“And I also need you to promise that you will follow any directions that I give you. If I say stay back, stay back. If I say attack, attack. If I say fall back, you fall back.”

“I hear you,” said Bucky. “Whatever you ask.” 

Hillary steered the car off the freeway and onto a busy street.

“”You know what, come to think of it, I shouldn’t be asking you to do this at all,” said Hillary. 

“It’s okay--”

“No, it’s not,” said Hillary.

“Hillary, if you want me to--”

She could see it in his face: he was scared. He was almost relieved that she didn’t want him to.

“I just...I just don’t want to do this alone,” she admitted. 

“Well, you don’t need to,” said Bucky. “It won’t be easy, but I can help you.” 

“How close are we?”

“The GPS says...we’re just about there. You’ll want to turn the next corner.”

The tom-tom announced just then that Hillary needed to take the next turn.

“I’m still not used to these things.”

“Yeah, it freaked Steve out too, at first.” She figured Bucky wasn’t too happy when she mentioned Steve--and he wasn’t. 

They came up to the steet where the hotel was.

“If we go a little further....there’s Trents'.”

“Are they open?”

“It looks closed,” said Hillary. “Trents' is never open very late. And otherwise I think the store security would have taken care of the FRP by now. But it’s just you and me.”

“How many guys are chasing him?”

“He didn’t say.” 

Hillary wasn’t sure it was such a good idea, asking the former Winter Soldier to be helping her. He was known for being brutally violent, and she didn’t want things to get out of hand. And what was more, she didn’t want to hurt Bucky’s feelings. He was really uncomfortable right then, and he didn’t look like he knew how to distract himself on the way in. And if she was being honest with herself she was just as nervous, though for different reasons.

They parked close to the store entrance. The lights were on inside but the building was empty, the doors locked. 

Hillary and Bucky got out of the car and looked around. There wasn’t any noise beyond the sound of cars on the street behind them. 

“Follow me,” she said to him. She locked her car remotely and led the way to the corner of the store. The Trents' was the last building at the end of a strip mall. In the dark alley to the side there was a car parked.

She paused and looked at Bucky. “Here,” she said, handing him one of her pistols, “you know how to use this, right?” 

Bucky picked up the gun with trembling hands, but he looked up at Hillary and gave her a determined look.

“I won’t use it unless I need to,” he said. “I’m pretty good with my fists.”

“Right. But don’t show off that metal arm too much.”

“Got it.” 

They continued to walk forward. Bucky stuffed the gun in his jacket pocket. Hillary carried hers in her hand. They stopped at the corner. Hillary looked around the edge of the  
building, holding the pistol at the ready in both hands. She couldn’t see anyone behind the store, but there were noises coming from inside. 

“All clear.” She and Bucky walked along the side of the store towards the dumpster. The back utility door was partway open. 

In the corner of the warehouse in the back of the store there were three men standing around a closet door. The larger of the three men was trying to shove it open with his  
shoulder.

“I haven’t got all night for this!” shouted a skinny man with combed hair, apparently to somebody inside the door.

“FREEZE! S.H.I.E.L.D.! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” Hillary shouted, raising her gun. 

The three men turned around.

The skinny man nodded. The bigger man broke off breaking the door down and ran across the warehouse floor to meet her. Hillary was about to shoot and knock something down to stop him, but Bucky sprinted ahead of her before she could pull the trigger. He and the big man began to fight. Hillary ran around them. The third man, with a face shape that reminded her rather of an egg, ran forward to attack her. Hillary put her gun in her jacket and began to fight him hand-to-hand. 

Bucky fought with the big man for less than a minute, throwing him flat on his back onto the floor. It had been ages, ages, since he had fought with anyone physically. And this time, he couldn’t put all of his strength into it, in case the man didn’t need to be killed. The opponent, however, was throwing all of his strength into it. Bucky had only to throw the big man off-balance and he had landed flat on the floor, hitting his head Bucky then raced to Hillary’s side and tackled the egg-faced man from behind. He threw the man onto the floor. The skinny man stepped forward, drawing a gun. Hillary darted away while Bucky approached the man and tried to wrestle the gun out of his grip. 

The skinny man was stronger than Bucky expected, strong enough to pull his wrists out of Bucky’s grip, and with a cold smile on his face. But part of it, he realized, was being able to move faster and use Bucky’s weight against him. Bucky threw a punch at him and he sidestepped gracefully. He held the gun out at him but didn’t fire. 

The egg-faced man, however, stepped back up. He was angry and came at Bucky at a run. Bucky ran as well, ducking behind a stack of food crates. The man came around the corner and Bucky leaped onto his back, pushing him onto the floor. They rolled and he pushed himself off of Bucky, getting back onto his feet. Bucky rolled over and stood up. The man then ran forward. Bucky moved backward. Thinking quickly, he noticed a stack of food boxes close by. He ran behind and pushed them forward onto the man. The man yelled horribly.

The killing machine that Hydra had turned him into lurked dangerously close to the surface. Bucky paused, catching his breath as the man tried to extricate himself from the collapsed pile of boxes. He could jump on this man and end him, right there. But Hillary didn’t want anyone killed tonight. He wondered if he could hit him on the head or cut off his windpipe, but he wasn’t sure how to do it so he just went unconscious.

All the while he was fighting he was remembering his fight with Captain America nearly a year ago. The memory would have paralyzed him if he didn’t know he had to keep going.

Then he felt a hand gripping him over the mouth. 

“I suppose you think you’re so clever, don’t you?” said the skinny man. Bucky felt the barrel of the man’s gun on his forehead as he was forced to the ground. 

How many times had Hydra held him in that position?

How many times had he done that to someone else...and then pulled the trigger? 

Bucky yanked the man’s arm away from him. He stood up and began to fight with him. 

Hillary was on the far side of the warehouse, ducking between pallets of pet food and bulk flour to hide from the big man with the goatee. He had pulled a gun out from his jacket. He seemed a little dazed from his brief fight with Bucky but determined to stop her. 

She crouched on the ground behind one of the pallets. At what point would he think he had to pull the trigger? And at what point would she have to use hers back? Or would she be the one to fire first?

But Bucky was occupied with the skinny man and the egg-faced man. She had to get back to that closet by the office. Mitch was in there. If he hadn’t come out, then she would need to get him out. 

“HA!” shouted the big man as he came around the side of the pallet. He had the gun out in front of him with both hands. Hillary leaped over the pallet and rolled to the far side of it.

There was a POP and a smell of gunpowder, and then the crunch as the bag of dog food absorbed the shock of the bullet. Hillary ran out from behind the stack knowing full well she was exposed, but she shot back at the man and ran behind a stack of several packages of soda pop. The man fired at the soda stack--once, twice, three times--and the sticky liquid exploded all over the room. Hillary was wearing flats, thank goodness, but she still slipped a little as she ran forward. Looking behind her she saw the big man still coming around the stack of soda cans. She fired another shot at the cans just over his head. 

Just then, two more men came into the back of the store. There was an Asian man with glasses and a man with a flat-topped buzz cut. Bucky had been fighting off to one side with the skinny man. The new arrivals, however, drew guns from their jacket pockets. Hillary shot at them. They shot at Hillary, who ducked behind a stack of cardboard boxes just as a bullet whizzed past her ear from behind. The big guy with the goatee was coming after her. They were closing in like vultures. But Bucky came and attacked the man with the buzzcut, his greasy locks whipping around his face in grim contrast. The man with the buzzcut got several punches to the jaw, and Hillary could see blood coming out of his mouth. The Asian man grabbed Bucky around the neck but Bucky gave him an elbow in the stomach and then turned around and kicked him in the stomach as well. The man’s scream was terrible. The buzzcut guy got back up, stumbled around, and got hit on the side of the head with Bucky’s left arm, and he fell over. 

Hillary was trying to watch but at the same time she continued to move around, trying to get away from the big man. She wanted to be moving closer to Mitch and the office door that the skinny man was still trying to pry open. Then Bucky had given the Asian man a final blow to the head, and he came running to Hillary’s side. The big guy fired several shots at him. Bucky ducked, but the boxes and crates of drinks he hid behind suffered severe damage, the contents spraying all over the room. The man took another shot at the crates and then turned to finish Hillary, who was trying to break for the closet door, but then Bucky grabbed him from behind. They had a good tussle for a minute, and then Bucky pushed him to the floor. 

Bucky had nearly forgotten Hillary until he heard the gunshots behind him. Hillary screamed. 

“HILLARY!” 

Hillary was hiding behind a pallet of knockoff macaroni and cheese kits, but the bullet had gone straight through. She fell on the floor covered in noodles and cheese sauce. She  
saw Bucky looking at her. Bucky ran around the pallet and went for the skinny man. Bucky grabbed the man’s gun and threw it away. While they fought, Hillary ran for the closet  
door. 

“Mitch! It’s me! Open up!”

“Just give me a minute!” came a muffled voice from inside. 

Hillary turned to Bucky. He had run behind a stack of crates. The skinny man was shooting at him. It looked like a bad time to ask Bucky if she could have her extra gun back.  
But then Mitch emerged from the closet, and he was carrying a fire extinguisher. He gave Hillary a brave smile. 

They ran together across the room. Hillary intended that they would join Bucky, but then she turned around and saw that Mitch had stopped to tinker with the fire extinguisher. 

The skinny man fired at Mitch. Mitch threw the fire extinguisher away, jumped on top of Hillary, and they rolled behind a pallet of potato bags. The bullet passed them harmlessly.  
The big guy had gotten up again. So had the Asian guy. 

The skinny man laughed. “I would say we’re about evenly matched for manpower now. But how about weapons?”

He came around the potatoes with his gun at the ready. The other two approached them from behind. Hillary pointed her gun while clinging to Mitch.

A rack behind the big guy suddenly began to fall. All of them ducked out of the way as the helpless potatoes were mashed. Hillary and Mitch ended up running towards Bucky. 

“I need that gun back!” she shouted at him.

“Here!” He reached inside of his jacket and threw it to her. Mitch ran forward and caught it. He undid the safety, and he and Hillary ran behind one of the shelving units.

“So what’s the plan?” he asked Hillary.

“Arrest these guys, that’s about it,” said Hillary.

“Didn’t you call S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“I did but nobody answered. This guy was all I could bring.”

Mitch peeked around and watched Bucky fighting the big guy. “He’s a maniac!”

Hillary peeked around the other side. The Asian guy was coming for them. 

“Follow me!” she said. They emerged from their hiding place. Putting their weapons down, they fought the Asian guy hand-to-hand. Mitch gave him a blow to the back of the  
head that knocked him over. 

Bucky was fighting the skinny man and the big man both at once. The big man kept trying to choke him or to pin him to the ground. He would slip out of his grasp, but the skinny man would punch him back into the big guy’s reach. He knew moves that could have killed either of them within seconds, and he didn’t use them.

At one point, he kicked the big guy in the side and sent him sprawling to the ground. The skinny man grabbed Bucky’s left wrist with both hands when he wasn’t looking. Bucky pulled himself away, but the glove that he was wearing over his left hand slipped off. For half a second, the skinny man’s eyes widened at the sight of the metal fingers. Then Bucky punched him with his right fist. The skinny man fell over, spread-eagled, blood dripping from his nose.

Hillary and Mitch had both turned to look as they heard the skinny man fall to the floor. The metal hand was out of Mitch’s line of sight, but Bucky shoved it into his pocket and went to look for his glove. Hillary then heard a noise behind them. The Asian man quickly moved up behind Mitch and grabbed him around the throat. Mitch struggled and kicked but the man held on. Hillary ran forward to get Mitch away from him, but he pointed his gun at Mitch. 

“One false move, he dies,” the man snarled. He turned Mitch around and began to drag him towards the warehouse door. “Give me the S.H.I.E.L.D. files on the Coburn Creek project.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Hillary. She pointed her gun at the Asian man.

She saw Bucky moving out of the corner of her eye, but the man didn’t see him. Bucky grabbed both him and Mitch, pried Mitch out of his grasp and onto the floor, and then punched the Asian man in the face. 

 

Mitch looked up at his rescuer. He was about medium build, dressed in worn-out clothing and a baseball cap, and was breathing heavily after his final exertion.

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“Gee, thanks,” said Mitch, standing up.

“Did I throw you too hard?”

“Not at all, not at all.” He gave a dry laugh. “Your friend’s hardcore, Hillary.”

“Let’s gather up these FRP guys and call up the police,” she said. “Mitch, you make the call. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“Fine, I’ll do that,” said Mitch, pulling out his cell phone.

Hillary and her friend went across the room to find the unconscious FRP lobbyists. They had to sidestep a lot of the debris and step through some sticky puddles to get to them. The egg-faced man was still buried under a pile of fallen crates and her friend had to do some heavy lifting to get him out. And as they worked, some people who worked for the store arrived, having been summoned by a security alarm. Hillary’s friend pulled his baseball cap lower over his face and continued carrying the buzzcut man over to the pile that he and Hillary were making of his companions. When Mitch hung up with the police operator, Hillary told her friend to go outside, and he put his hands in his pockets and left.

For a guy who had just been in a heck of a fight he didn’t look that exhausted. 

The police arrived within minutes. Hillary and Mitch explained the event to them and to the store managers. The FRP lobbyists were starting to come around, and handcuffed and groggy they were taken to the waiting police vehicles outside. Hillary also made a phone call to Agent Parsons to give him a brief report of what had happened and told him they would discuss it in the morning.

They walked away from the back of the store, relieved to be out of there. 

“I am never shopping at Trents' again,” said Hillary.

“You said it,” said Mitch. “Well, though really, I’m not from Arizona so I don’t shop at Trents' to begin with.” 

“Do you want to go back to your hotel room?”

“Eh, frankly I’d rather not. If it’s proven to be that insecure. Plus the window’s broken, so it’s not really someplace I’d like to sleep in.”

“They could give you a different room.” 

“Nah.”

“Okay. We’ll go to my house, then.”

They made their way back to the hotel. They spoke with the hotel manager and Mitch went back to his room to grab his stuff. They went to the back of Trents' again and got his laptop case--his laptop appeared undamaged on the outside, but he decided to wait and worry about the interior damage in the morning. Finally they went to the Trents' parking lot. Hillary’s friend was leaning against one of the cars parked there. His hands were in his pockets and he was staring off into space. 

“Sorry we kept you waiting,” Hillary said to him. 

“No, it’s fine,” said her friend. 

“By the way,” said Mitch as he approached. He put his suitcase down. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Mitchell Sorensen.”

The man stuck his right hand out. “Pleasure to meet you, Mitch. Hillary’s told me about you.”

“Really, what did you tell him, Hillary?” Mitch asked.

“Only the good stuff,” said Hillary.

“She says you’re an annoying dweeb,” said her friend.

“Oh really?” said Mitch.

“I didn’t call him that,” said Hillary, “but I’d say it takes one to know one,” said Hillary.

“Oh ho ho, burn!” 

“Hey, you could be referring to yourself,” he answered.

“Ouch, that was harsh.”

“And what’s your name?” Mitch asked her friend.

“I--I don’t have a name, really. I’m nobody.”

“Nobody? Come on, everyone is somebody!” 

Hillary opened her car doors and Mitch put his stuff inside.

“Well, I’m somebody who likes their privacy,” said Hillary’s friend, taking Mitch’s suitcase. He put the suitcase in the backseat. Mitch was going to sit next to it, but then her  
friend said, “You know it won’t kill you to take shotgun.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s more comfortable.” He held the front passenger door wide open for Mitch.

“Really? Thanks!” Mitch got in the front. “Wow, you’re really nice.”

“I try to be,” said Hillary’s friend. He stuck his left hand back into his pocket and closed the door with his right.

“Wow--well, hey, don’t mess with any of my stuff back there.”

He slumped into the back seat beside Mitch’s suitcase. “I won’t. It’s too dark to really see anything.”

Hillary started the car. 

“Well, okay. I guess you’re trustworthy. After all, you just saved my life.”

“She invited me.”

“You did? Why, well, thank you, Hillary, for bringing your friend along to help you rescue me.”

“It’s not a problem,” said Hillary. She turned the car onto the street. “Did you text Director Coulson?”

“No. Should we?” asked Mitch.

“Yeah. Tell him the Free Range Party came to kill you and you’re going to spend the night at my house.”

“Oh, okay. And I will also mention that I was rescued by you and by...your mysterious friend who refuses to give his name. Does he have a name?”

Hillary sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“Maybe you just don’t want to tell me.”

“Maybe you don’t need to know.”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Just tell Coulson it was me and a friend.” 

Mitch looked over his shoulder at the man in the backseat. He could have sworn he got a glimpse of him smiling from under his baseball cap, but he pulled the brim over his face  
again. 

During the drive, he and Hillary discussed what the FRP had been trying to get and why they were so anxious to use violence against them..

“You know what you should have done,” Hillary said as they pulled into her neighborhood off one of the main roads. “You should have stalled him by asking what he knew about  
Hydra. I’ll bet you anything that creep or one of his goons would have known something.”

“Would they have answered?”

“Dunno.”

“Well, what I really should have done was not opened the door for him in the first place.”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself. You didn’t know who was there.”

“Right.”

They pulled into the driveway of a one-story home on the side of a low hill. The windows were dark. Mitch turned backwards to retrieve his bags, and saw that Hillary’s friend  
had taken his suitcase. 

Hillary unlocked the door with a spare key she pulled out of a hiding place and led the two of them inside. 

“Just make yourself at home,” said Hillary as they entered the kitchen. “You can take my brother’s bedroom tonight.”

“So I’ll take the couch?” said her friend. Mitch sort of jumped when he heard him speak--he was so quiet otherwise.

“If you don’t mind,” said Hillary.

“I don’t mind.”

“I...wouldn’t mind taking the couch, to be honest,” said Mitch.

“Nonsense, Mitch. He’ll let you have the bedroom.”

“He will? You will?” he said, turning around to look at the man.

“Sure.” He gave a faint nod. He still had his baseball cap on, so Mitch couldn’t see his eyes very well. He wasn’t smiling or frowning. He looked like maybe he was holding his breath a little, like he wanted to say something and he couldn’t. 

“Okay. Thanks.”

“If you’ll follow me,” said Hillary. She led Mitch around the dining room table and down the hall. The first door past the bathroom was her brother Cody’s bedroom, and as they walked along she explained the amenities.

“Hillary?”

“Yes?”

“Just who is this guy?”

“He’s a friend.” 

“Being...brutally honest, he’s kind of a weird friend, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, he...has his issues. Well, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Hillary. And thanks for coming to get me.” 

“Don’t mention it.” She walked down the end of the hall to a linen closet.

Mitch went into the bedroom and unpacked his pajamas and toiletries. He changed into his nightclothes and then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. 

As he finished, he went down the hallway and stuck his head into the living room. Hillary’s friend was sitting on the couch. He’d taken his baseball cap and his jacket off and was removing his shoes. 

“Hey,” said Mitch.

The man looked up at him and didn’t say anything.

“I just wanted to say...thank you for coming after me tonight. But...you don’t have to say you’re welcome or anything. That’s all. Goodnight.” 

Mitch went back to his bedroom. Then he decided he wanted a glass of water. As he was passing through the hall he saw Hillary in the bathroom, wearing a yellow bathrobe and flossing her teeth. She nodded at him and he passed.

The light was off in the living room but there was a spotlight on in the kitchen. Mitch found himself a cup easily and got himself a drink of water from the tank. He could see the form of Hillary’s friend curled up on the couch, his face away from the kitchen. He was probably just lying still--or maybe he had heard Mitch come into the room and was pretending to be asleep. He was covered with a blanket up to his head, and his shoulder-length, messy hair was spread out behind him. 

Mitch returned to the hallway just as Hillary was going down to her bedroom. They said goodnight once more, and then Mitch heard what he thought was a loud sigh of relief.

 

Mitch slept comfortably in Cody’s bed. When he awoke the next morning, the man on the couch had left. Hillary was awake, and so was her mother Jo Tanner. Jo served Mitch and Hillary a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. When Mitch asked where Hillary’s friend had gone, Hillary said he had already left for the garage with her father. 

Mitch went ahead and took his belongings with him when he and Hillary set off for Tempe at nine-fifteen. Traffic was moderately heavy and they made good time. Agent Parsons was waiting for them, as were the other agents stationed there. Parsons took them all to the conference room where the skype with Coulson was being set up. He told the other agents not to question Mitch and Hillary about what had happened, but one in particular, Marcie Johnson, pressed her with questions. Hillary gave her the details about the fight and the FRP lobbyists who had attacked them. 

At ten o’clock sharp, Director Coulson called them on Skype. Mitch was instructed to speak first, and he gave a detailed account of how he had been attacked in his hotel room and then chased to a janitorial closet in the nearby grocery store. Parsons and Coulson both nitpicked the details of the chase and the fight. Everyone thought that Mitch had done fairly well for someone with limited physical training or experience.

And then Hillary was called on to speak. 

“I was at home when Mitch texted me,” she began. “I took my two work pistols with me, and then I felt like it would be a bad idea to go rescue Mitch by myself. However, I was unable to get a hold of either Parsons or Kearns.”

“For the record, Hillary, I didn’t get your voice mail until it was too late,” said Parsons.

“And my phone battery died last night,” added Kearns.

“So who did you bring?” asked Coulson.

“There is a friend of my family named Jason Retinw,” said Hillary. “He works at my dad’s garage, running errands and doing light custodial work. I know he’s physically strong enough to put up with this kind of a situation, so I asked him to come with me as backup.” 

Agent Parsons watched Hillary with a skeptical look. “Backup? Really?”

“I wasn’t going to take on three of those guys by myself,” said Hillary. “And plus two more of them showed up later on. And they were all armed.” 

“Right. I was down there earlier this morning. They’ve gotten most of it cleaned up,” Parsons informed them, “but they took pictures. That was quite a lot of damage your friend  
did. I’ll send you an email, Phil.”

“So this friend, Jason Retniw,” said Coulson. “He came and helped you?”

“Yes,” said HIllary. Hillary gave them the story of the fight mostly from her perspective. Agent Kearns had the police reports to confirm the identities of the FRP lobbyists Hillary  
had apprehended as she went along. When Hillary got to the part where she had freed Mitch from the closet, Mitch filled in a few details about the fight, including how “Jason  
Retniw” had rescued him.

“I’ve gotta say, that friend of hers, he’s tough. He fights like a maniac.” 

When the story had finished, they began a discussion about making reparations to the store and the hotel as well as a talk about how to deal with Mitch’s attackers. It was  
decided that the local S.H.I.E.L.D. group would question the lobbyists briefly before they were sent to the state prison. 

“Quick question,” asked Hillary, “the FRP was asking Mitch about something called the Coburn Creek Project. What’s that?”

“That,” said Agent Parsons, “was a S.H.I.E.L.D. project to set up a secret base up in the mountains near Payson. It was in the works until last April, and then in her brief stint as director Maria Hill decided to have it scrapped. But it sounds like the Free Range Party is opposed to it.” 

“Unless Hydra is paying them good money now to let them develop it,” said Coulson. “But, I think that’s our last item of business for now. Hillary, Mitch, I’m very proud of both of  
you for how you handled this situation. Parsons, you buy them lunch, got it?”

“Yes, Director,” said Parsons, though he sounded less than thrilled about it.

“My business here in D.C. should take another day or two,” said Coulson. “But there is some stuff I need you and Hillary to take care of for me in Sacramento. You will both fly out this afternoon.”

“Yes, sir,” said Hillary. 

“And while you’re up there, get started on your incident report. Now, before we go, we should probably talk about the Lemicks interrogation again…”

They were in the meeting with Coulson and the other agents until around noon. It was resolved that they would wait for a court order to get a lie detector for Michael Lemicks. How the actions of his comrades last night affected things was uncertain--not that he would hear about it, but S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to re-evaluate its strategy for questioning him.  
Agent Parsons took Hillary and Mitch to lunch along with everyone else at the Tempe office. They went to a local Mexican restaurant, since Mitch was a tourist and needed to experience the “real food.” 

Hillary: Hey, Dad, so we talked to S.H.I.E.L.D. today. Jason Retniw will get a mention in the official report but I don’t think they suspect anything. But tell him for me again, Thank you so much for helping me.

Trey: I will pass that on to him.

Hillary: I’ll swing by the house this afternoon. I have a plane to catch at five o’clock to Sacramento.

Trey: You leaving already?

Hillary: Yeah, I kind of couldn’t stay very long. We’re needed elsewhere.

Trey: Such is life. Well, if I don’t see you, take care, sweetie.

Hillary: Love you, Dad. 

Hillary slept on the plane to Sacramento. She was exhausted from the night before. So was Mitch, but he wanted to get a head start on the report. Hillary said she would fill in the bits later about her and her friend. 

They were met by the local S.H.I.E.L.D. director in Sacramento at the airport and taken immediately to their hotel. They had dinner at the attached restaurant, and he and Hillary both went to their rooms thinking that they had eaten very well that day.

When Mitch got to his hotel room, he wanted to continue to work on his part of the report. 

Hillary’s friend Jason...whatever his last name was….he was probably an okay guy, once you got to know him. True, you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of him in a fight. But he was close to Hillary, that much was certain. How close, Mitch couldn’t say. Mitch had a few guesses about his background but decided he wouldn’t make any assumptions. That was Hillary’s part to worry about when they filed the report. It probably wasn’t anything S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to know about. The request for secrecy was a little unnerving, true, but Mitch wasn’t going to pry into someone’s full tragic backstory without permission. 

But there was something he needed to know. He went to the door of Hillary’s room and knocked, but she didn’t answer. So he texted her.

Hey, Hillary, I have a question.

She texted him back several minutes later. 

Hillary: I was in the shower, sry. What’s the question?

Mitch: how do you spell your friend Jason’s last name?

Again, she was several minutes in replying. He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when she answered him. He had placed his phone on the counter, but when he picked it up he was turned around to check his suit coat while reading the message.

Hillary: Retniw. 

Mitch: Ok, thx.

Mitch inadvertently turned around and saw the reflection of the text messages in the mirror. And then he noticed something.

Retniw is Winter spelled backwards.


End file.
